Best (Men's) Tennis Matches of 2010

Here are my picks for the "best" (or most memorable) tennis matches by men in 2010. These are basically the matches that had the most impact on me while they were occurring, feature some of the best play, had the most impact on the rest of the tennis world or are matches that I would most likely to watch again in the future. You can see my previous lists: Best Men's Tennis Matches of 2009 and Best Men's Tennis Matches of 2006. (There were no men's lists in 2007 or 2008.) I also have posted the Best Women's Tennis Matches of 2010.

1. J. Isner USA d. N. Mahut FRA, 6-4 3-6 6-7(7) 7-6(3) 70-68, Wimbledon 1st Round, London.

A match for the ages. A tennis match that transcends tennis, and possibly sport itself. Two relatively unheralded players played a match which lasted 11 hours and 5 minutes, by far the longest match ever. The final set itself is a marvel, shattering the record for the longest match--in terms of time (8 hours,11 minutes) and number of games (138) played. The list of records broken is a litany of exceptionalism which is unlikely ever to be matched. When the rest of the tennis of 2010 is long-forgotten Isner-Mahut will still be referred to. What was most remarkable that despite playing so long, there was still brilliant tennis for vast portions of the match. This was truly an example of the cliche where it is sad that in every game there has to be a winner.

2.  R. Nadal ESP d. A. Murray GBR, 7-6(5) 3-6 7-6(6), ATP World Tour Finals semifinal, London.
The penultimate match of the 2010 season was one of the most exciting, well-played matches of the year. Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray had met three times before in 2010, with the Briton leading 2-1. However, this semifinal match at the Year-Ending Championships was being held before a British crowd which was considered to be a disadvantage for Murray. Many people do not like Murray's game, feeling that he plays too defensively given the talent, power and mobility he possesses (Gael Monfils suffers from similar complaints), but in this match Murray confounded his critics by being as aggressive as I have ever seen him play. The match was probably decided in the first set. There, both players  played well, with Murray serving exceedingly well but after his serve failed him in the tiebreaker Nadal was able to tuck the set away on his first and only set point. In the second set, things were pretty even until Nadal went through a very bad patch at 3-all and basically donated the second set to Murray. In the third set Nadal got an early break which he was able to nurse into a 5-3 lead. Murray was able to hold serve and when Nadal served for the match at 5-4 he was broken despite holding a match point. In the inevitable tiebreak Murray continued his aggressive play but was rewarded with errors instead of winners. He can take heart that he at least went down slugging away and if he can apply this mentality to future matchups with his higher ranked rivals the results may be different.

3.  N. Djokovic SRB d. R. Federer SUI, 5-7 6-1 5-7 6-2 7-5, U.S. Open semifinal, New York.

The greatest Grand Slam match played this year was the second men's semifinal at Super Saturday at the U.S. Open in New York. For the fourth year in a row Roger Federer faced Novak Djokovic at the last major of the year, having beaten him the first three times in one final and two semifinals. This time, history seemed prepared to repeat itself when Federer earned double match point at 15-40, 4-5 in the final set. The number of times Federer had lost a grand slam match after holding a match point in his career can be counted on one hand (without using all of the fingers). However, the young Serb was able to be very aggressive on these match points and after getting past that near-death experience was able to use the mental momentum gained to immediately break Federer in the very next service game and serve out the win. The match featured long streaks of very high-quality tennis from both sides, with both players displaying impeccable defense and offense. After winning 5 U.S. Opens in a row, Federer has now lost in the last two to younger challengers. Is this a sign of things to come? Only time will tell.

4.  R. Federer SUI d. A. Murray GBR, 6-3 6-4 7-6(11), Australian Open final, Melbourne.

The highest quality grand slam final of the year featured yet another historic performance by Roger Federer as he was able to beat a player who has a career head-to-head edge against him in straight sets. Murray did not play badly, Federer was simply on fire for exactly the optimal time which allowed him to win each set. The third set in particular Federer should have lost but he was able to finally earn the break back and set up one of the classic tie-breaks of all time--a 24-point thriller that ended with Federer winning the match and his record 16th grand slam singles title.

5.  G. Monfils FRA d. R. Federer SUI, 7-6(7) 6-7(1) 7-6(4), Paris ATP Masters semifinal, Paris. 

Gael Monfils is a 6' 4", 180 pound Frenchman of African descent with size 15 feet who has long been predicted to do great things in tennis. He is one of the most dynamic players on tour and easily one of the fleetest of foot. He often responds well to a supportive crowd and has had some of his best results in front of Parisian crowds. Federer had never lost to Monfils and was probably not worried when he somehow lost the first set in a close tie-break. However, even Federer must have been surprised by the Frenchman's tenacity and will-to-win despite being down 4-1 in the 3rd set. Somehow, Monfils was able to save (count 'em) five match points at 4-5 through tremendous defense (his mighty serve basically deserted him on match points down so Monfils had to win those points the hard way). This was the fourth example of a match in 2010 where Federer had a match point and went on to lose the match (l. Djokovic US Open semifinals, l. Berdych Miami Masters 4th Round, l. Baghdatis Indian Wells 3rd Round, l. Monfils Paris Masters semifinals). Hopefully, Federer's new coach Paul Annacone will try to work on raising the level of his charge's aggression on big points (his often-atrocious break-point conversion rate should be another focus of improvement for the Swiss great) and we look forward to seeing the results in 2011. For Monfils, this was an amazing result which hopefully will spur him on to greater results next year and beyond.

6.  R. Nadal ESP d. N. Djokovic SRB, 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-2, U.S. Open final, New York.
 After the fireworks of the men's semifinal between Federer and Djokovic, this final was something of an afterthought, especially since  for the third year in a row it was played on Monday instead of Sunday due to inclement weather (get a roof already, New York!). The tennis quality was reasonably high but Nadal secured his inevitable date with destiny by achieving the career grand slam at the tender age of 24 years old, just 15 months after his great rival had achieved the same feat in Paris. Nadal and Federer both have claims to be the greatest of all time, with Nadal at 9 majors to Federer's 16 but is 5 years younger (and further along at comparable ages). The GOAT question will not be decided until after both men have retired, but without doubt this match was a seminal moment in tennis history, one to be remembered for a long time as Nadal joined the small select group of career grand slam holders.

7.  R. Federer SUI d. R. Nadal ESP, 6-3 3-6 6-1, ATP World Tour Finals final, London.

 Any match between Federer and Nadal is a marquee event, but this contest, following the best match of the year between top players (Nadal-Murray semifinal) was the culmination of the season in which Nadal won 3 consecutive grand slam tournaments. With Nadal sporting a gaudy 14-7 career head-to-head record against Federer some people thought he would cement his dominance with a win here. They were incorrect, however, because on hard courts the two greats are more evenly matched, with a very slight edge to Federer. The actual tennis was high quality, but the sets were somewhat lopsided in score. Even small lapses can be converted into 6-3 sets and a large lapse results in a 6-1 blowout between these two rivals who know each other's games so well. In the end Federer was better on the day and postponed the discussion of which of the two men will be at the top of the heap in history's final estimation.

8.  R. Soderling SWE d. R. Federer SUI, 3-6 6-3 7-5 6-4, French Open quarterfinal, Paris.
One year after engineering the upset of the decade by handing 4-time defending champion Nadal his sole defeat (ever!) at Roland Garros, the tall, strong Robin Soderling repeated the effort by ending Federer's incredible streak of grand slam semifinals at 23 with a 4-set win over the defending champion. History was repeated again a few days later, when, after reaching the French Open final, Soderling lost in a surprisingly non-competitive fashion. However, this match, like last year's defeat of the defending champion will be long remembered by tennis fans. It should be noted that Federer hasn't forgotten either, and hasn't lost to the Swede since (but Nadal has).

9.  T. Berdych CZE d. R. Federer, 4-6 6-3 6-1 6-4, Wimbledon quarterfinal, London.

A few weeks after losing his hold on the #1 ranking and his famous semifinal streak, Federer had his dominance on grass ripped from his grasp as Tomas Berdych showed that his inaugural win over the Swiss player in Miami was not a fluke but a harbinger. The 6' 5", 200 pound Czech simply played a near-perfect match on Federer's home turf of Wimbledon's Centre Court, dismissing the defending champion in 4 crisp sets. Although Berdych was able to follow up his win with a victory over Novak Djokovic in the semifinal, he was unable to compete effectively against Nadal in the final, succumbing in straight sets to the Spaniard while I watched in the stands. Unsuccessfully defending his title in two consecutive grand slams, failing to reach the semifinals twice in a row must have been a dreadful blow to Federer, but he can seek solace in his quarterfinal streak, which now stands at 26 and counting.

10 F. Verdasco ESP d. D. Ferrer ESP, 5-7 6-7(8) 6-3 6-3 7-6(4), U.S. Open 4th Round, New York.

The only other match on this list besides the Isner-Mahut classic which does not feature a grand slam champion was this all-Spaniard showdown between two of the fittest (and best-looking) players on the men's tour in the 4th round of the 2010 US Open. It also happens to feature one of the most amazing match points in the history of Open tennis. It should be noted that this fifth-set tiebreak occurred after nearly 4 1/2 hours of grinding, extended-rally play, after Verdasco had already been down two(!) breaks in the deciding set and fought back to even the match. What happens on match point deserves no words, just your admiration:





Absolutely amazing!


HONORABLE MENTIONS
R. Soderling SWE d. T. Berdych CZE, 6-3 6-3 3-6 5-7 6-3, French Open semifinal, Paris.

A. Murray GBR d. R. Nadal ESP, 6-3 7-6(2) 3-0 ret., Australian Open quarterfinal, Melbourne.

R. Soderling SWE d. M. Llodra FRA, 6-7(0) 7-5 7-6(6), ATP Paris Masters semifinal, Paris.

A. Murray GBR d. R. Federer SUI, 7-5 7-5, Canadian ATP Masters final, Toronto, Canada.

A. Murray GBR d. R. Federer SUI, 6-3 6-2, Shanghai ATP Masters final, Shanghai, China.

R. Nadal ESP d. T. Berdych CZE, 6-3 7-5 6-4, Wimbledon final, London.
R. Federer SUI d. N. Djokovic SRB, 6-4 3-6 6-1, Swiss Indoors final, Basel, Switzerland.

R. Nadal ESP d. R. Soderling SWE, 6-3 7-5 6-4, French Open final, Paris.

R. Nadal ESP d. A. Murray, 6-4 7-6(6) 6-4, Wimbledon semifinal, London.

Y-H. Lu TPE d. A. Roddick USA, 4-6 7-6(3) 7-6(4) 6-7(5) 9-7, Wimbledon 4th Round, London.

T. Berdych CZE d. R. Federer SUI, 6-4 6-7(3) 7-6(6), Miami ATP Masters 4th Round, Miami.

R. Federer SUI d. N. Djokovic SRB, 6-1 6-4, ATP World Tour Finals semifinal, London.

S. Wawrinka SUI d. A. Murray GBR, 6-7(3) 7-6(4) 6-3 6-3, U.S. Open 3rd Round, New York.
J. Melzer AUT d. N. Djokovic SRB, 6-4 3-6 2-6 6-2 7-6(3), French Open quarterfinal, New York.

J-M. Del Potro ARG d. J. Blake USA, 6-4 6-7(3) 5-7 6-3 10-8, Australian Open 2nd Round, Melbourne.
M. Cilic CRO d. J-M Del Potro ARG, 5-7 6-4 5-7 7-5 6-3, Australian Open 4th Round, Melbourne.
L. Hewitt AUS d. R. Federer SUI, 3-6 7-6(4) 6-4, Gerry Weber Open final, Halle, Germany.
J-W. Tsonga FRA d. N. Djokovic SRB, 7-6(8) 6-7(5) 1-6 6-3 6-1, Australian Open quarterfinal, Melbourne.

ATP Tour Finals: Semifinal Review and Final Preview

World #1 Rafael Nadal will face World #2 Roger Federer in the final match of the 2010 ATP tennis season at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London today. As MadProfessah predicted on Friday, Federer was able to dismiss World #3 Novak Djokovic in straight sets while World #5 Andy Murray put up a stern challenge to prevent this 22nd meeting in the storied rivalry between the two greatest players of their generation.

Semifinals Review

The two semifinals were thrilling in their own way. Federer demolished the Serb in a 6-1 6-4 match which was not as close as the score reveals. Essentially, Federer won two 6-1 sets but went through "a bad patch" at the beginning of the second set where he lost 3 consecutive games. The Swiss quickly recovered and dispatched Djokovic to continue his preparation for next week's Davis Cup Final matchup versus France in Belgrade.

The Nadal-Murray match was one of the best matches of the year, with the Spaniard (barely) prevailing 7-6(5) 3-6 7-6(6). There were some incredible 27 and 36(!) stroke rallies in the first set, with  incredibly high quality tennis on both sides of the net. Murray basically lost the first set because after enjoying a hot serving streak for the majority of the set, in the tiebreaker he couldn't buy a first serve. If you can't serve well, it makes it very difficult to win  a tiebreaker where every point is effectively a breakpoint. Interestingly the second set was similar to the second set in the Federer-Djokovic match where after basically playing to a draw at 3-all suddenly Nadal went through a bad patch  and lost 3 games in a row. (Murray grew more aggressive and was able to break Nadal twice in ten minutes to win the set). In the third set Nadal got the early break and served for the match at 5-4 where, inexplicably, he was broken after holding a match point. Would he be able to prevail in the inevitable tiebreak? It didn't look like it when Murray won the first three points of the tiebreak and led 4-2 on the change over. However, as usual, Nadal did not give up and won the mini-break back to hold a second match point 5-6 on Murray's serve.Murray was able to defend that point with some incredible gets and at 6-6 went for a huge cross-court winner which flew a couple inches wide giving Nadal his third match point on his serve. The World #1 was able to win the match point with his patented inside-out cross-court forehand winner into the far corner of the court to reach the Tour Final for the first time in his storied career.

Finals Preview

This is the 22nd meeting between the 24-year-old 9-time grand slam champion and the 29-year-old 16-time grand slam champion. The younger player enjoys a 14-7 career head-to-head edge; all but 4 of their meetings have been in finals (where Nadal leads 12-5) but at the season-ending championships Federer leads 2-0 (but those wins came when Nadal was usually exhausted at the end of the season). In hard court finals, Nadal leads 2-1 (2009 Australian Open final, 2006 Dubai final). Nadal is also experiencing one of history's greatest seasons ever, having won every clay court match he played this year and winning the last three consecutive grand slam titles with a better than even shot of claiming the "Nadal slam" in Melbourne in a few months.

There are four possibilities for the match result (tabulated below with associated estimated probabilities)

Match Result              Probability
Federer wins in 2 sets        33% 
Nadal wins in 2 sets          17%
Federer wins in 3 sets        20%
Nadal wins in 3 sets          30%

This computes to a 53% chance for Federer to win with a 47% chance for Nadal, if there is an equally likelihood of a 2-set and 3-set match. Actually, looking at their 21 previous matches, only 8 of their matches have gone the distance. All that being said, the match should be close and exciting!

MadProfessah's prediction: Federer in 2 sets; Nadal in 3 sets with a distinct edge to whomever wins the first set.

ATP Tour Finals: Federer v Djokovic, Nadal v Murray Semifinals

The semifinals of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals are set: Roger Federer will play Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will play Andy Murray. Federer and Nadal are undefeated through the first three round-robin rounds with Nadal only dropping his very first set of the tournament against Andy Roddick, although Djokovic should probably have won the first set in their match. Federer was pretty lucky not to lose the first set against Robin Soderling.

That being said, Nadal has a 8-4 career edge against Murray, a 14-7 lead against Federer and a 15-7 lead against Djokovic. He is, after all, the World's #1 player and the current holder of 3 of the 4 major title, having won 3 in a row in 2010. He has never won this tournament, because he's usually dead tired by this point in the season. He did not play in 2008 and lost all 3 round-robin matches last year. However, it's 2010 and I expect him to at least get to the final, where I suspect he will play Federer in a mouth-watering final. Although Nadal leads the Greatest Of All Time in their overall head-to-head and beat him once this year as well as the last time they met on a hard court (the inexplicable 2009 Australian Open final), their hard court record head-to-head is tied 3-3 with Federer beating Nadal twice in the semifinals of the year-ending championships in 2006 and 2007. However, in Finals one would have to give the edge to Nadal (12-5).

Can Novak and Andy stop another Fedal final? Possibly, since Murray sports a 2-1 lead over Nadal (4-4 career on hard courts) this year, both time winning on hard courts including the last time they played in the semifinals of Toronto (where Murray also beat Federer). His single loss to Nadal came in London earlier this year in the Wimbledon semis. For all intents and purposes that was the equivalent of a Tour final. Murray himself has been lowering expectations about his chances against Nadal (and Federer) in his press conferences this week. However, I think he probably has the best chance of the four of preventing Nadal from winning his first tour championships.

While Nadal faces the person most likely to beat him, Federer plays the person least likely to beat him. (He beat Murray this week in round-robin play but has an overall 5-8 losing record to the Scot.) Djkovic trails Federer 6-12 in their career match-up, including 1-3 for the year. Of course that one win was in the semifinals of the 2010 US Open where Federer held two match points and lost. One does feel if the match is close, Federer will likely lose it. Ever since then, Federer has beaten Novak relatively easily and I expect that will be the case tomorrow.

MadProfessah's predictions: Nadal defeats Murray in 3 sets; Federer defeats Djokovic in 2 sets.

ATP Tour Finals: Federer Gets Revenge On Murray 6-4 6-2

 

World #1 Roger Federer defeated hometown favorite Andy Murray 6-4 6-2 to win his second round-robin match at the Barclay's ATP Tour Finals in London. Federer improved his win-loss career record to the young Scot to 6 wins out of 14 matches played. Murray had beaten Federer the last two times they met this year, both times in Masters finals (in Shanghai and in Toronto). Of course, Federer has beaten Murray in the two major finals they have competed in (2010 Australian Open and 2008 US Open ).

Murray beat Robin Soderling and so in order to make the semifinals of the ATP World Tour finals, Murray will need to beat David Ferrer in straight sets in order to reach the semifinals. Federer will just need to win a set off of Soderling to clinch a semifinal berth if Soderling does not beat Ferrer today.

The other half of the draw has Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, Tomas Berdych and Novak Djokovic. Djokovic and Nadal have wins over Berdych and Roddick, respectively so far.

Federer Wins 64th Tour Title; Tied With Sampras At 4th Most All-Time

Roger Federer won the 2010 Stockholm Open over Florian Mayer 6-4 6-3 to tie Pete Sampras for 4th on the all-time list of ATP tour titles won at 64. Jimmy Connors leads with 107, followed by Ivan Lendl at 94 and John McEnroe at 77.

Federer's career record is now 64 wins and 28 losses in finals, which is significantly better than his 2010 record in finals which is 3-4 (losses to Rafael Nadal in the Madrid Masters on clay, to Andy Murray in the Toronto and Shanghai Masters on hard courts and to Lleyton Hewitt in Halle, on grass).

Federer is now 29 years old but has promised to play through thw 2012 Olympics in London, which will be held on grass. He won the Gold medal in doubles but Nadal won the Gold in singles in Beijing in 2008.

I predict Federer will surpass McEnroe's total by the time he retires  but Lendl's total is safe. Another record Federer would dearly like to have, is the most weeks at #1, where he is exactly one week behind Sampras' record of 286.

Murray Beats Down Federer 6-3 6-2 To Win Shanghai Masters

World #4 Andy Murray beat down new World #2 Roger Federer 6-3 6-2 in the finals of the Shanghai Masters on Sunday, bringing his career edge over the 16-time major champion to 8 wins, 5 losses, including 2 wins, 1 loss in finals in 2010. It is Murray's 6th career Masters series title; Federer has 17 and World #1 Rafael Nadal has the most ever with 18.

The win was the Scot's second title of the year and in his second consecutive win over Federer this year after losing to him in the 2010 Australian Open final earlier this year. Federer regained his World # 2 ranking behind Nadal by dispatching Novak Djokovic in the semifinals, who had won last week's tour event in Beijing. Murray's win may signal a return to firm for the indoor hardcourt season which culminates in the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London November 21-28.

Federer Beats Djokovic; Faces Murray in Shanghai Masters final

World #3 Roger Federer beat World #2 Novak Djokovic 7-5 6-4 in the semifinals of the Shanghai Masters tournament to set up a final showdown with Andy Murray. Djokovic last beat Federer in the semifinals of the 2010 US Open after saving two match points, and went on to lose that final to World #1 Rafael Nadal last month.

Murray still sports a 7-5 head-to-head lead against Federer, and beat the 16-time major champion this summer to defend his Canadian Masters title but lost to him in this year's Australian Open final.

Neither Federer nor Murray have lost a set in Shanghai. If Federer wins it will be his 64th career title, tying him at 4th best overall with Pete Sampras, and his 3rd of the year. In 2009, Murray won a record 6 titles but if he wins on Sunday this would be his 2nd title of the year.

Shanghai: Melzer Upsets Nadal; Federer in Quarters Against Soderling

At the Shanghai Masters tournament World #1 Rafael Nadal was upset by Austrian lefty Jurgen Melzer 6-1 3-6 6-3 in the 3rd Round. Roger Federer beat Andreas Seppi while Robin Soderling defeated David Ferrer; the two winners will face each other in the quarter-finals.

Still in the tournament are Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

US OPEN 2010: Men's and Women's Draws Preview

The 2010 US Open starts on Monday, so the men's and women's draws have been released. Savannah at Craig Hickman's Tennis Blog posted them and an online discussion is beginning.

The Men
The top seed is Rafael Nadal, who is trying to complete his career slam after winning Wimbledon and Roland Garros this year. A 14-match Grand Slam winning streak is nothing to sneeze at. However, Nadal has never even played a final in New York, although he has steadily improved his results every year he has played the event. In 2009, Juan Martin del Potro, the eventual champion, demolished him 6-2 6-2 6-2 in the semifinals. Looking at his draw, I doubt Rafa will get that far this year but he has a clear path to the quarterfinals. David Nalbandian is in his quarter, but the resurgent Argentine would have to get past Fernando Verdasco in the 3rd round. It's possible either Verdasco or Nalbandian could take Nadal out relatively early. If not, he would be facing whoever emerges from the bottom of the top half of the draw in the semifinal: Andy Murray, Tomas Berdych, Sam Querrey or John Isner. I don't see Rafa getting out of that match-up alive. Since the defending champion is injured, World #2 Roger Federer has a good chance to reach his 8th consecutive US Open final. I do think that in a Federer-Nadal 2010 US Open final, Nadal would be favored because of his head-to-head lead against the Swiss player and his previous demonstration in Melbourne that he can beat Federer in hard court finals as well as clay. Federer's path to the final is slightly more dangerous than Nadal's, but I think he has a greater likelihood of making it. His only obstacles are Robin Soderling in the quarterfinal and either Andy Roddick, Novak Djokovic or Nikolay Davydenko. I don't see Federer losing a US Open semifinal to any of these players, but he could lose in the quarterfinal to Soderling. Nadal has a small probability of losing in the quarterfinal but a much greater probability of losing in the semifinal. My prediction: Murray v Federer final.

The Women
The first response is to say that with World #1 Serena Williams out of the draw with injury do we really care what happens this year? Well World #2 and #1 seed Caroline Wozniacki would beg to differ. Although she made the final last year as a teenager and she won the 2010 US Open Series I seriously doubt her ability to repeat her achievement from 2009. Looking at her draw, Wozniacki has a potential 3rd round encounter with Lucie Safarova and a 4th round match with Maria Sharapova and a quarterfinal match with either Svetlana Kuznetsova or Li Na. The bottom half of the top part of the draw should feature a Jelena Jankovic-Vera Zvonareva quarterfinal. In the top of the bottom half of the draw if Venus Williams is any kind of shape, she should have a stroll to the semifinals (notwithstanding a 3rd round re-match with Tsvetlana Pironkova who took her out at Wimbledon). In the bottom of the bottom half of the draw defending champion Kim Clijsters will need to get through Marion Bartoli and Elena Dementieva. My prediction: Clijsters v Sharapova final.


Of course I reserve the right to revise these predictions when I see how people are actually playing during the tournament!

Federer Defends Cincy Title Over Fish

Roger Federer won his first non-major final of the year after losing 3 finals in a row (on 3 different surfaces: Madrid to Rafael Nadal, Halle to Lleyton Hewitt and Toronto to Andy Murray) in Cincinnati on Sunday over American Mardy Fish. The title was his 53rd overall, tying Bjorn Borg on the all-time list at 5th. It was Federer's 17th ATP Masters series title, tying Andre Agassi but still one behind Nadal's 18.

Federer has now won the Cincinnati title in 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2010. Next year it will become a combined male-female 8-day event (immediately following simultaneous men's and women's tournaments in Toronto and Montreal).

The match with Fish was a close, high-quality 3-set affair featuring 2 tiebreaks, one break of serve and only 6 breakpoints between the two players. The final score was 6-7(5) 7-6(1) 6-4. In the first set, Federer had 4 breakpoints and failed to convert any of them due to brilliant serving by Fish. Federer faced one breakpoint in the second set but was able to get through to a tiebreak. In the first set tiebreaker Federer held a 5-4 lead, but Fish played a brilliant point to even the breaker at 5-all and Federer played a loose point to be down 6-5. Fish won the first set on a service winner. In the second set tiebreaker Federer was much sharper, jumping to a quick 4-1 lead and never looked in danger of losing that breaker. The only break in the match came in the 9th game of the third set where, for once, after facing a break point Fish was unable to make a first serve and eventually lost the breakpoint and the game, and eventually the match when Federer served it out pretty easily on his second match point.

Murray Defends Canadian Title Over Federer

Andy Murray got revenge for his 2010 Australian Open final loss to Roger Federer by defeating the 16-time major champion 7-5 7-5 at the Rogers Cup in Toronto, Canada. The Scotsman improved to 7-5 head-to-head over Federer and maintained his right to be in the conversation of potential winners of major titles, especially those played on hard courts.

Murray won his first title of the year, by defending his title at this tournament from last year, the first person since Andre Agassi in 1995 to achieve that feat, and did so by defeating Rafael Nadal and Federer in the same tournament.

Federer v Murray and Clijsters v Sharapova in Finals

Roger Federer defeated Novak Djokovic 6-1 3-6 7-5 to regain his World #2 ranking and defending champion Andy Murray defeated World #1 Rafael Nadal to retain his World #4 ranking in today's semifinals at the Toronto Masters.

Federer followed up his clutch win over Tomas Berdych (despite being down 2-5 in the deciding set!) to improve to 10-5 against the Serbian. The Swiss player was up 6-1 2-0 and was two points away from a second break when after holding Djokovic smiled and relaxed and reduced his error count considerably while Federer continued to struggle on break points and ended up losing the set. In the third set, Federer took a commanding 4-1 lead and had multiple opportunities for a 5-2 lead. Instead, he got broken and the next game was a titantic 15-minute struggle (9 deuces!) which Djokovic won to even the match at 4-all in the 3rd. Federer fell behind 15-40 on his very next service game but served three consecutive huge first serves to get himself out of trouble and nosed ahead 5-4. The match looked like it was going to a deciding set tie-break with Djokovic up 40-15 on his serve at 5-6 but Federer fought back to deuce and won the match on his first match point after another backhand and forehand error by the former World #2.

The first semifinal between Murray and Nadal was relatively uneventful, with ineffectual serving from the World #1 which eventually led to a deciding break in the first set. In the second set, Murray had an early break which he relinquished to even the match and then surprisingly Nadal lost the 9th game of the match on his serve through some excellent returns from Murray, who then coolly served out the set to win the match.

Tomorrow's final should be a reprise of this year's Australian Open men's final which was won by Federer. Murray, however leads their head-to-head 6-5 but Federer has won their three match-ups in finals (2008 US Open final, 2010 Australian Open final and the Thailand Open).

I expect a barn-burner tomorrow with Federer pulling it out in 3-sets.

On the women's side Kim Clijsters will face Maria Sharapova. Sharapova has won the last 3 times they have played, but Clijsters leads their head-to-head 4-3. I like the defending 2009 US Open champion versus the 3-time major champ.

Federer v Djokovic, Nadal v Murray Semifinals in Toronto

Today there's a dream line up of semifinals at the Rogers Cup in Toronto; World #1 Rafael Nadal plays World #4 Andy Murray and Roger Federer plays World #2 Novak Djokovic.

Federer came back from down 2-5 in the third set to even the match and defeat Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych 6-3 5-7 7-6(5) on his very first match point, despite being 2 points away multiple times from his third consecutive loss to the hard-hitting Czech for the year. Murray has to reach the final in order to maintain his #4 ranking over Robin Soderling, who was taken out earlier by a resurgent David Nalbandian.

Sam Querrey Repeats As Champion in LA

ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images

American Sam Querrey became the first person since Andre Agassi in 2001 to defend his title in Los Angeles by defeating the top seed, World #4 Andy Murray 5-7 7-6(2) 6-3 on Sunday.

MadProfessah had been invited to visit the tournament earlier in the week for a USTA Diversity event and saw Querey and James Blake lose a desultory doubles match to the excessively handsome (and eventual semifinalist) Feliciano Lopez and Jarko Tipsarevic.

WIMBLEDON 2010: Men's Semifinals Preview

Here are my predictions for the men's semifinals at the Wimbledon Championships for 2010.
I previously made predictions for the men's quarterfinals (1 of 4 correct) and the women's quarterfinals (2 of 4 correct).

(I have now arrived in London and I have tickets for the men's final on Sunday.)

Roger Federer SUI (1) Tomas Berdych CZE (12) vs. Novak Djokovic SRB (3). For the first time since 2002(!), Roger Federer will not be playing in the Wimbledon Men's Final. (Of course, this is the year I travelled to Wimbledon after getting lucky to get tickets to the men's final. Did I bring him my favorite player bad luck?) Anyway, After winning 23 consecutive major quarterfinals, the 16-time major champion has now lost the last two he has played in a row, to two somewhat similar opponents, the hard-hitting giants Robin Soderling (in Paris) and Tomas Berdych (in London). Unlike at Roland Garros, where Federer clearly did not play his best and was blasted off the court, at Wimbledon Federer was defeated while still playing about as well as he's played most of the year. (Which is to say, not his best ever, but possibly the best he can do right now.) His failure to defend his two major titles from last year (and the fact he has won only won tournament all year, the 2010 Australian Open) means that the former World #1 will fall to World #3 in the rankings on Monday. This means that Federer will remain stuck one heartbreaking week behind matching Pete Sampras' record of 286 weeks at #1 for the foreseeable future. Will he ever get there? I believe so. And it may just be what keeps the Swiss master in the game until the 2010 London Olympics as he has promised before. Berdych has started a streak of his own; for the second consecutive major the Czech player has made the semifinals. Berdych played an astonishing match against Federer, hitting 51 winners to Federer's 44 and only making 23 unforced errors to Federer's 18 (and 6 of those were double faults by Berdych going for second serves). Although I predicted a different match-up, I am not unduly upset by what transpired today, I do believe the better player on the day won the match. As expected, with the shock defeat of Andy Roddick by Yen-Hsun Lu in the previous round, World #3 Novak Djokovic had an easy time of it to reach his second Wimbledon semifinal. Berdych and Djokovic have only played twice (a curiously low number for active players) with Djokovic having never lost. Can Berdych come back from the greatest victory of his career to date to reach his first major final? The Czech has suffered from mental frailty in the past, but is clearly playing some of his best tennis ever. Djokovic, too, is playing some excellent tennis and definitely has the game to make the most of this rare opportunity to reach his third major final (2007 US Open, 2008 Australian Open) without having to face a higher ranked player. However, he, too, has had some notably poor performances in massively important matches (the 2010 Roland Garros quarterfinal loss to Jurgen Melzer from two sets up comes to mind, as well as injury retirements at Wimbledon.) The real question is whether Berdych is on an unstoppable Juan Martin del Potro run to his first major, or will he come back to earth after beating the Greatest of all time on his best surface? PREDICTION: Djokovic (in 4 sets).

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga FRA (10) Andy Murray GBR (4) vs. Robin Soderling SWE(6) Rafael Nadal ESP (2). The bottom half of the draw is where I bravely (foolishly?) predicted that upsets would happen. The mouth-watering Friday tea-time match-up between World #1 Rafael Nadal and World #1 Andy Murray was predicted at the beginning of the tournament by many. But they both had to go through some excellent players to get there. Murray lost his first set of the tournament in a tiebreak to the excessively talented Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and was two points away at 5-all from losing the second set tie-break when The Frenchman inexplicably let a floating Murray service return sail past him at the net only to watch with horror and disbelief as the ball kissed the back of the line to give Murray set point instead. The rest of the match was not pretty, with Murray dominating to a 6-7(5) 7-6)5) 6-2 6-2 win. I didn't see much of the Soderling-Nadal match (since in London all eyes were geared towards their countryman's match) but from all reports Nadal started very slowly (down 0-5) in the first set but managed to break back early in the second set. Despite serving for the second set (after Soderling was treated for a blister on his left foot) at 5-4 Nadal only barely managed to eke out the third set tiebreak and then rolled past a demoralized Soderling to win 3-6 6-3 7-6(4) 6-1. With Federer out, Nadal has an excellent chance to win the tournament, as he has winning records against all the remaining players in the draw (7-3 versus both Murray and Berdych, 14-7 versus Djokovic--which happens to be the identical record he has against Federer). However, Murray is probably the toughest opponent for Nadal at this stage of the tournament. There's no question that Murray was on his way to demolishing Nadal earlier this year in the 2010 Australian Open quarterfinals when the Spaniard retired down 2 sets and 0-3. The two haven't played since, with Nadal having his best clay court season to date, and Murray his worst. Happily Wimbledon is played on grass. Additionally, the fact that Murray beat Nadal the last time they played and that this is a semifinal, not a final should help the Brit play his best tennis this year, something Murray did not do against an inspired Andy Roddick last year. Nadal has already lost the most amount of sets that he ever has on his way to winning (or defending) a major title. The 2008 Wimbledon champion has been uncharacteristically irritable and complained of pain his knees. On the other hand, Murray has lost the fewest amount of sets of any of the Top 4 players at Wimbledon this year and has been advancing later and later into the draw at Wimbledon every time he has played it. I expect that trend to continue all the way to the final, and possibly the title this year. PREDICTION: Murray in 3 or 4 sets (or Nadal in 5 sets).

WIMBLEDON 2010: Men's Quarterfinals Preview

Here are my predictions for the men's quarterfinals at the Wimbledon Championships for 2010.

(By the time you read this I will be in the air from LAX to London Heathrow on my way to Wimbledon. Depending on the vagaries (and expenses) of internet access, I may or may not have semifinals predictions for the men's and women's draws tomorrow.)

Roger Federer SUI (1) vs. Tomas Berdych CZE (12). The 6-time champion had started off his quest for a record 7th title weakly but in his last two matches his game has looked strong. Berdych is a very talented, huge serving, huge hitting 6'5" Czech player who has already beaten Federer once this year (even though he needed 5 match points to do it). He is a very similar player to Robin Soderling who beat Federer at this same stage of the tournament at the French Open a month ago, although possibly Berdych is not as good a mover as Soderling (which he demonstrated by beating Berdych in Paris). Before beating Federer earlier this year in Miami, Berdych had lost 8 straight times to Federer, including once at the 2006 Wimbledon. The Mighty Fed will find a way to win. PREDICTION: Federer in 4 sets.

Andy Roddick USA (5) Yen-Hsun Lu TPE vs. Novak Djokovic SRB (3). This is Novak Djokovic's dream draw and Andy Roddick's nightmare. Roddick lost to the unseeded player from Taipei despite losing his serve only once, a repeat of what happened in his loss last year in the thrilling final against Federer. This time, however, Roddick was much less aggressive at attacking his opponent's serve and mentally was only able to hold his serve until the 16th game of the 5th set, not the thirtieth game like last year, nowhere near the amazing 138th game that Nicolas Mahut was able to do in his jaw-dropping performance against John Isner. Some wags were flogging Lleyton Hewitt's chances of penetrating deep into the draw, since the Aussie had finally ended his 16-match drought against Federer last week by winning the grass court title in Halle. I was not one of them. Djokovic is the #3 best player in the world, and made sure that Hewitt knew it. By the end of this match, Lu will know it as well. PREDICTION: Djokovic in 3 sets.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga FRA (10) vs. Andy Murray GBR (4). This match should be the highlight of the 2010 Men's Quarterfinals. Tsonga and Murray have only played three times, with Murray leading 2-1. That one loss came at the 2008 Australian Open, where Tsonga made his breakthrough to his first major final, eventually losing to Djokovic. There's no question that Tsonga has the weapons to beat Murray. This match should come down to the intangibles, which for Murray at Wimbledon are always difficult to evaluate. Does the fact that the British crowd will be overwhelmingly in his favor help him over the hump to victory, or will their outsize expectations smother his chances? I think it is no coincidence that the two places that Murray has reached major finals (Melbourne 2010 and New York 2008) were in cities where he does not carry the weight of a nation on his shoulders. Last year, he was curiously flat against Andy Roddick in the Wimbledon semifinals. I had picked him to win that match last year but this time I think if the match gets "complicated" it will be the Frenchman who will come out on top. Murray is the only player in the draw not to drop a set and it's possible (but unlikely) that this will happen again. PREDICTION: Murray in 3 sets or Tsonga in 4 or 5 sets.

Robin Soderling SWE(6) vs. Rafael Nadal ESP (2). This is a repeat of the 2010 Men's Final at Roland Garros where Nadal did not lose a set for the entire tournament. There's no question in my mind that the Spaniard is the greatest clay court player of all time. But this match-up is on grass, and of course, these two have a troubled history at Wimbledon. In 2007 the two played a much-delayed 5-set match over 5 days where Soderling made a fool of himself by mocking Nadal's quirks. He has since apologized. Up until his previous round's 5-set match against David Ferrer, Soderling had not dropped a single set in this tournament, the only top player (besides Murray) to have done so. Another problem for Nadal is that he has been troubled this tournament by two youthful, big servers in Robin Haase of the Netherlands and Philipp Petzschner of Germany. Soderling can not only serve regularly in the 130 mph range but he can back it up with power on both wings. But then again, if Ferrer gave Soderling that much trouble and his game is really a weak imitation of Nadal's then surely Nadal will give Soderling trouble as well. Out of the Top 4, I think Soderling (and Tsonga if he can stay healthy) are the most likely to break through to a major title in the near term. Here is where Sodelring will need to show if he can get through Nadal (and later, possibly Federer) to do it. I think he has a fairly decent chance of succeeding. PREDICTION: Soderling in 3 or 4 sets, Nadal in 5 sets.

WIMBLEDON 2010: Federer Seeded #1

The seedings for 2010 Wimbledon are out. In a small surprise the All-England Lawn Tennis Club chose World #2 Roger Federer as the #1 seed over World #1 Rafael Nadal. Of course, Federer is the defending champion and has won the tournament 6 times (and 16 majors overall), while Nadal has only won it once.

The men's seedings are:

1. Roger Federer (Switzerland)

2. Rafael Nadal (Spain)

3. Novak Djokovic (Serbia)

4. Andy Murray (Britain)

5. Andy Roddick (U.S.)

6. Robin Soderling (Sweden) 7. Nikolay Davydenko (Russia)

8. Fernando Verdasco (Spain)

9. David Ferrer (Spain)

10. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France)

11. Marin Cilic (Croatia)

12. Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic)

13. Mikhail Youzhny (Russia)

14. Juan Carlos Ferrero (Spain)

15. Lleyton Hewitt (Australia)

16. Jurgen Melzer (Austria)

17. Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia)

18. Sam Querrey (U.S.)

19. Nicolas Almagro (Spain)

20. Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland)

21. Gael Monfils (France)

22. Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic)

23. Feliciano Lopez (Spain)

24. John Isner (U.S.)

25. Ivo Karlovic (Croatia)

26. Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus)

27. Thomaz Bellucci (Brazil)

28. Gilles Simon (France)

29. Ernests Gulbis (Latvia)

30. Albert Montanes (Spain)

31. Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany)

32. Tommy Robredo (Spain)

AUSSIE OPEN 2010: Federer Wins 16th Major

Roger Federer won his record 16th major by defeating Andy Murray 6-3 6-4 7-6(11) as I predicted two days ago. The 28-year-old Swiss player improves to 16-6 in major finals and cements his hold on the World #1 rank.

When the new rankings are released on Monday 2008 Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic will rise to #2, Andy Murray will become #3 and last year's Australian Open champ Rafael Nadal will fall to #4. It was also revealed today that Nadal will be out for at least 4 weeks due to a small tear in the same knee in which the Spaniard had previously suffered tendinitis.

Federer and Serena Williams have now both won 3 of the last 5 Grand Slam finals and are both on track to win a calendar Grand Slam ths year, when they will both also turn 29 years old.